Wails, walls and thresholds: qualifying for curtesy in the late thirteenth century

This paper looks at two cases from the reign of Edward I relating to tenancy by the curtesy of England - the right of a widower to remain for life on his deceased wife’s land. In order to qualify for this life interest, a man had to show that he and his wife had produced a live child, a rule which could lead to disputes as to whether a baby had been born alive, or had been stillborn. John Cantilupe’s Case (1276-7) and Danyel v. De La Bere (1292) are under-explored cases which shed some light on the murky question of how it could be determined whether or not there had been a live birth.